Wizard Rides 343, 344, & 345: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

Wednesday, 3/13/12

After work, I rode Wizard in the indoor arena. I set up a “course” of trot poles: line, diagonal, line, diagonal. We worked in bending, with shallow serpentines, and incorporated the trot poles into the ride. He was responsive and less swishy with his tail. He only pinned his ears once during the ride. It seems like the Springtime Wizard is back.

Saturday, 3/17/12

Wizard and I took a quick trail ride with Sunny and Lily. We took the short loop around, and then returned to the indoor arena for ring work. Wizard did not pin his ears at all when I got into the saddle, which was a first in months. Hooray! His hind foot slipped once while we were working on transitions from our little trot to our big trot. I also think he felt a tiny bit uneven. My friend could see it when he went around corners, too. Hmmm.

Curiosity got the best of me, and we tried a little canter work at the end of the ride. Zero improvement. Swishing tail, pulling on the bit, uneven in the hind end. Oh well.

We took the short loop again at the end of the ride, and then I sponged him off. The weather is incredibly warm, and Wizard is basically living outdoors these days, which seems to be very good for him.

Sunday, 3/18/12

My local tack shop was having a 20% off sale, so I finally picked up the Tory Leather Jumping Hackamore that I’ve always wanted to try. It is basically a piece of rolled leather with rings for the bridle and the reins. There is no criss-cross, and there are no shanks. It’s really basic.

I rode Wizard in the indoor arena, and he rode pretty well in it. He was very relaxed, but we did lose a lot of our refinement/bending/etc without a bit. I couldn’t really create any impulsion, so he was sort of dinking around the ring without using himself. Brakes and steering were fine. I did a lot of work on serpentines to keep him listening to me and to work on getting him bending around my leg. We were able to do transitions within the trot. The hackamore was a great tool for my equitation, too. It enabled me to keep a steadier contact with the reins, because Wizard was not fiddling with the bit. I was able to get him to stretch down, too. Wizard just likes the fact that he can eat bigger carrots with his hackamore than he can with his bit :^)

Like Saturday, I felt a little unevenness in his gait- it was super subtle, but I felt something. And we have about 2 weeks left of Lyme Disease treatment- woo-hoo! Then, I’ll have the vet come back out and evaluate him and decide our next step.